NUMBAH FOH

"Is this wise? Trusting those ali- outsiders?" Nanbu said in a whisper as both of the bridge officer saw the preceding of the negotiation with apt attention.

"I myself don't know. So far, their actions are at least trustworthy in my opinion." Shima Daisuke said. Takao had offered an olive branch the desperate humanity would take at any moment, like a starving man would, it's hard to refuse.

On the table, the delegation from Takao was talking with the XO, Shiro Sanada on behalf of the Captain.

She was a fairly young woman who wouldn't be so out of place in a high school establishment. Her hair was the color of a ripened corn and was neatly arranged into a short-cut held by a black hat that looked similar to a stewardess' headwear.

From their impression, Takao didn't have cohesive standard uniform, and most of the crew wore whatever they thought was comfortable. The girl who introduced herself as Type-2 Combat Doll MP40 "Emma," much to Yamato's confusion, wore an all-black dress with white lining and regalia of the officer of German army who fought in world war 2.

When confronted by this fact, she simply smiled amicably, and said that she was not technically human, but artificial one. The word of course sends the Yamato crews present in the meeting room into a frenzy but at this point they shouldn't be surprised anymore seeing how advanced their civilization is from the video they'd sent.

"Would this be enough, Sanada-san?" The doll that called herself "Emma" said as she laid out the term to the XO.

"At this point we shouldn't be too greedy at the opportune presented to us." The man himself thinks this was a little bit too much, but then again, the word from the Takao Captain that this degree of exchange, in his polite word, is like giving candy to little kids in exchange of a pistol in their hands.

They were practically salivating at the mention of the wave-motion-engine. The agreement had been completely one-sided at the moment, in exchange for guaranteed sovereignty on foreign soil and assistance, the Takao would assist Yamato in recovering the earth, including tagging along their journey to Iscandar.

Niimi had suggested that they should've stayed at Solar system, in a subtle way to defend earth should anything happen while they were away, but of course, it was rejected by Emma in her defense that they would like to investigate this unknown world.

"A blueprint for macro terrestrial-sculpting device, atmospheric filter, nutrient replicator, autonomous mining base, robotic scheme, and lastly, cold-fusion reactors. All of this should be enough to extend the lifespan of earth and to gather enough resources to survive until you could return from your journey." Emma explained the benefits of each technology.

Each was staggeringly ground-breaking and innovative in its own way. Sanada couldn't be happier to get a hand on these.

"Why would you not help us restore earth completely, if I may ask Emma-san?"

She adopted a smile, "The reason is simple. For what purpose, the Iscandar sent you wave-motion-device instead of the cosmo-reversal-engine?"

"A test?"

The young woman nodded, "Presumably. Maybe to see if your species is strong enough to survive and perhaps learned a few lessons along the way. Honestly, we, the Ortlinde, also had a few policies when dealing with a newcomer and primitive. It's like watching an infant that tried to stand and sometimes you couldn't help but wanted to assist him in his growth but excessively doting can hinder it at the same time. The Iscandar may have shared that sentiment."

Of course, Emma emitted the fact that they wouldn't hesitate to open fire at the said Infant.

Though those sentiments weren't shared by the rest of those inside the room. Sanada understands that too. A poor comparison in his opinion. It's a cruel world no matter what.

"Continuing from our previous topic, I bel- "

The room shook, trembling as the light went off and on. It continued to rumble for a few seconds before things were returning to normal.

The room occupier held on to whatever piece of furniture they can grip on their hands.

"Sanada to Bridge, what is happening over there?!"

"This is Mori. There's a power surge coming from the engineering room! No… wait a minute…"

The connection was abruptly cut off before Mori's voice could return a few seconds later.

"Sanada-san you better hurry up here."

What in the name of god is happening? Emma couldn't help but ask the same question. Don't tell me, she came to realize. That Mayer!

She bolted out of the room to chase said woman who should've been inspecting the ship's core at the time.

.

.

.

She held a wry smile, hand rubbing the back of her head, like a child being caught after a prank. "Iyyah~ haha who would think that it could cause a violent reaction…"

Sanada and Emma sighed in response as both brought their hands to the eye while shaking their heads. The two then met eyes. Comrade!

"So, can you explain, Mayer! Didn't the captain specifically tell you to not mess with it! HA!"

"Well stop that Emma, you're scaring me!"

"I could be scarier right now if only this was Takao confinement room, you know."

"Please calm yourself, Emma-san. So, Mayer-san, what were you doing in the engineering room?"

"Well you see that the wave-motion-engine emitted less power than it should've been. I tinkered on it a little bit but found out that there's an unnecessary protocol installed inside it."

"Protocol?"

"It was probably a program installed by the Iscandar to prevent you from exploiting the device. Maybe. I don't know but it's there. You should check the overall energy output right now."

"She's right, Sanada-san. The total output of the energy radiated has increased by about sixty-percent compared to before." Niimi said.

"This is good news, right? It's not like anyone was harmed and we have extra juice to spare from now on." Kodai, who had been rushing to the incident place, said.

"Again, this is not the time to breach the agreement. Rest assured she'll be receiving punishment accordingly by the Captain!"

"Eh that's too excessive Emma-chan! Captain is scary when he is angry."

"I don't care. You dig your own grave."

"Just let me stay in this place for a little longer- waaah~"

At this point Emma had dragged the crying Mayer by her scruff out of the room.

"Hahaha they're a rather lively bunch, aren't they?"